


After the Return

by laxit21



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: OFAE, olicity- Freeform, olicity-fanwork-exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-20 20:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18532627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxit21/pseuds/laxit21
Summary: Inspired by SmoakingGreenArrow's Come Back When You Can which definitely should be read first.Oliver helped Nyssa and the Thanatos Guild defeat Ra’s and returned back to his family. The first 24 hours he’d back don’t quite go the way he hoped.





	After the Return

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SmoakingGreenArrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmoakingGreenArrow/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Come Back When You Can](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14949939) by [SmoakingGreenArrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmoakingGreenArrow/pseuds/SmoakingGreenArrow). 



The same night that Oliver returned from his mission to stop Ra’s, and he discovered Felicity was pregnant again based on her cravings, he got to do something he never thought he’d ever have the chance to. He got to put his son to bed.

Eli was excited that his daddy was home, and understandably reluctant to go to sleep. Daddy was home, now he could see all of the things Eli used to tell him about and they could play with his toys. He didn’t want to go to bed.

“It’s time to go to bed, sweetie.” Felicity told him.

“But Momma! I’m not tired!” He said with a pout. His seriousness was undercut when the five year old let out a yawn.

“Oh, you aren’t tired, huh?” She asked him.

“Nope. ‘Sides Daddy said he’d play trucks with me.”

“You can play tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Daddy?” She said, looking over to Oliver.

Oliver wanted to give in to his son’s adorable expression, but he knew Felicity was probably right. Despite how awake Eli claimed to be, he looked sleepy and yawned again. “I think it’s time for bed, bud, but you know what? We can play all day tomorrow. Whatever you want.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.” Oliver said sincerely. “But it’s bedtime now and you need to go to sleep.”

At the little boy’s insistence, Oliver helped him get ready for bed and tucked him in. Eli asked for a story, so Oliver told him the story of the first time he saw Felicity in his father’s office so many years ago. He finished the story and told Eli goodnight.

“Night Daddy. I’m glad I don’t have to talk to the picture no more.”

“Me too.”  Oliver said as he closed the door.

Felicity was standing in the hallway and was openly crying. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“I didn’t know he did that.” She said sniffling. “He asked me for a picture with you so he could keep it close but- he talked to you every night. He told you about his day and he wished you goodnight and-“

Oliver didn’t say anything but put his arms around his wife. “It’s been an exhausting day, in a good way. I think its time for us to go to bed too.”

“You’re probably right. Eli’s gonna wake you up at the crack of dawn to play.” She admitted. They went to bed and they both fell asleep fairly easily.

Felicity was woken up in the middle of the night by movement. When she was fully awake, she could feel that Oliver was thrashing in the bed next to her, in the midst of a nightmare. He was muttering something in a language she didn’t understand. It sounded like he was pleading with someone.

“Oliver?” She whispered, hoping to wake him up. “Oliver!”

His muttering switched to English. “No, not her. Leave her alone! Felicity!”

“Oliver, you’re having-“ Later, she’d realize how idiotic it was to try and shake him awake. In the moment, all she could see was her husband clearly distressed and wanted to help him. As soon as her hand touched his shoulder, he grabbed her and flipped her over, pinning her beneath him. He was holding her in place, but not causing her any harm beyond that. His eyes were open, but she didn’t think he was fully awake. “Oliver, it’s me.”

He seemed to wake up and scurried to get off of her. “I- I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I probably shouldn’t have tried to wake you up when you were having a nightmare.” She said. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? I could’ve hurt you. I could’ve hurt the baby. I- I should-“ Oliver had messed things up. He could’ve hurt, or worse killed, Felicity or their baby. He shouldn’t have come back here, at least not yet.

“I swear to Google, if you say you should leave or anything like that, I’m gonna shoot you with one of your own arrows.” She said. “it was an accident. Everything’s okay. Stop feeling guilty over it. You spent five years fighting to survive. I wasn’t expecting you to come back and everything be perfect.”

“Still, I shouldn’t- I’m dangerous. What if Will-? Oh god, what if Eli-?” He said.

“Hey, look at me.” Felicity said in a bossy tone. “Nothing’s gonna happen to Will or Eli. You were taken off guard, and we can have a conversation with Eli tomorrow about not surprising Daddy. You were startled, that’s it.” She told him. She was so happy that Oliver was back and she didn’t want him to start pulling away from her or their family because he thought he was a danger to them. “Do you wanna talk about it? Your nightmare?”

“I- he had you. Ra’s al Ghul. He took you because he couldn’t make me forget you. He- all I could do is watch as he slowly killed you.” Oliver admitted.

“It was just a dream. I’m right here. I’m safe, see?” She poked him in the cheek, which earned her a small smile. “And we’re gonna be okay.”

Felicity went back to sleep and Oliver was able to get a few hours before he heard thundering footsteps racing towards them. They were too light to be an adult, but they woke him up nonetheless.

“Hope you’re ready.” Felicity whispered.

“Ready for what?” He asked, right as the door to their room opened.

He felt something jump onto the bed and crawl towards him. “Daddy! Wake up!” Eli said. He could tell that the boy was trying to whisper so that he wouldn’t wake Felicity up, but he didn’t exactly succeed. “It’s time to play.”

“Shh. Momma’s asleep. Let’s not try to wake her up.” Oliver said, sitting up to see his son’s face a few inches from his. “It’s time for breakfast, then we’ll play, okay?”

The boy agreed before bouncing up and down, trying to get Oliver to get out of bed faster. Eli led Oliver to the kitchen, talking a mile a minute about how excited he was to spend the whole day with his father. He tried to talk Oliver into making pancakes, but they didn’t have the right ingredients, so he settled on cereal.

“Which kind?” Oliver asked. “This one?” He held up a box.

“Momma said I can’t have those.”

He looked at the box of Reese’s Puffs. Nothing about the cereal seemed weird or concerning to him. “Why not?”

“Will likes them, but Momma said I was ‘lergic to peanuts and it would make me sick.” Eli said before pointing to another box. “Can I have Coco Pebbles?”

Oliver nodded and brought down the right box. He felt bad that he didn’t know his son was allergic to peanuts. He didn’t even know basic things about his son like what he couldn’t eat. What if he’d given him the cereal without thinking?

“I’m sorry I almost gave you the wrong breakfast.” Oliver said.

“That’s okay. Momma said your head hurts and you don’t ‘member stuff sometimes.”

“Your momma is right.”

“Duh, she’s always right. Momma’s the smartest lady ever.” Eli told him.

“Yes, she is.”

The two Queen boys ate their cereal and Eli pulled Oliver over to where his toy trucks were so they could play. Felicity and Will woke up within the next hour and joined them. As he watched his family go along with Eli’s made-up stories about the cars, Oliver realized something. The Queen family had a long way to go before they were whole again, but they were going to get there just fine.


End file.
